Breakdown of Sigurvegarinn er alltaf fljótastur.
vera
to be
alltaf
always
sigurvegarinn
the winner
fljótur
fast (adjective)
Questions & Answers about Sigurvegarinn er alltaf fljótastur.
What is the base form of fljótastur and how is the superlative made?
The base adjective is fljótur (fast). To form the superlative meaning 'fastest', we drop the regular -ur ending from the base word and add -astur to create the strong masculine form.
Why does the adjective have a masculine ending here if it comes after the verb?
In Icelandic, adjectives that come after the verb 'to be' (called predicate adjectives) still have to agree with the subject in gender, number, and case. Since sigurvegarinn is a masculine noun in the nominative case, fljótastur takes the matching masculine singular ending.
Since the subject is 'the' winner (definite), why don't we use the weak superlative form fljótasti?
We use the strong declension here because the adjective is standing alone after the verb er. Adjectives in this position generally use the strong declension, even if the subject of the sentence is a definite noun. You would use the weak form if the adjective were directly attached to the noun, as in fljótasti sigurvegarinn (the fastest winner).
How does the definite article attach to form sigurvegarinn?
The base word sigurvegari (winner) is a masculine noun that already ends in the vowel -i. When adding the definite article meaning 'the' to masculine nouns like this, you simply attach -nn to the end instead of the full -inn, making it sigurvegarinn.